The Greatest Miracle? - Act IV of A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen

“The greatest miracle-?” (149) Torvald wishes at the end of Act III. As Nora walks out the door, he has one last shred of hope that she will change her mind. This is not the case. Act IV starts with heartbroken Torvald, alone as a single father, with no idea as to when or if he will see his wife again. Nora had a moment of realization after her secret is discovered, “I have to try to educate myself.” (146) she says as she decides to leave Torvald. Torvald is in deep reflection as to what was so wrong with her life here, and he is in denial. He believes he sheltered her and that was the best gift of all, but little did he know, he was treating her as a piece of property.  Nora says, “I believe that, before all else, I’m a human being, no less than you-” (146) This has been replaying through Torvald’s mind since she left. Over the next 2 months, Torvald has written letters to Nora every week, even though he was explicitly told not to. In the evolution of these letters, you can see Torvald learn what Nora’s life was like. Being a single father and having to take on many roles that would typically be of the mother in a patriarchal society, he starts to understand what Nora meant when she said she needed to educate herself and become her own person. He starts to understand the life of a mother but will never truly understand that of a wife. He will never experience what it means to be controlled by a male figure in a household. This continues to give him hope that Nora might return. In his letters, you can feel his regret towards being absent as a father figure, but he does not acknowledge his failure as a husband. In Torvald’s eyes, Nora would not succeed without the guidance of a man. Little does Torvald know; Nora is thriving without him. One day Torvald receives the paper on his front porch. The front page is an image of Nora. She is the first woman to open her own shop in her town. Hundreds of thoughts are running through Torvalds head as he never would have believed Nora could be anything without a man. Torvald then remembers back to his last words as Nora left him, “The greatest miracle-?” (149) and how, maybe truthfully the miracle is not Nora returning, yet what she has had the strength to become. End scene with Torvald standing on the porch in total shock.  

 

This is the way I picture Act IV of the play going. I feel that Torvald will continue his ways and lack understanding as to why Nora made her decision. He will step into a motherly role in his house but will never be able to understand the role of a wife in his household. This brings him struggle in understanding Nora’s reasoning for leaving. If Torvald had come to terms with the decision Nora made, maybe this news of her becoming successful would have been easier to take. However, since he was so set on his beliefs, I believe this shocking news could break him as his ideas have not developed at all since she left. I wrote it this way to emphasize the gravity of how much Torvald was holding Nora back, and how much she could truly do with some freedom.

My writing intention was to improve my use of quotations. I focused on using quotes that supported my ideas well to be able to strongly convey my ideas and opinions.